A Kotuku Killing
by jinxcat99
Summary: An alternate ending to the "File 6: Forbidden Pastime" episodes in the anime. Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt or any of its characters.


Mai Taniyama.

Mai Taniyama.

_Mai Taniyama._

"I hate you, Naru!"

"I'm going to stop him"

"Mai!"

"Mai!"

Mai Taniyama, a high school girl. She was hired last April b Kazuya Shibuya, or "Naru" as she likes to call him, as an employee of Shibuya Psychic Research company following a case involving a girl from her school. Since then, herself and several spiritualists have accompanied and aided "Naru the Narcissist" in soling multiple cases and hauntings.

Yet…

* * *

"Hey, have you guys seen Mai?" The brunette had run off after she declared she was going to stop Naru from reversing the kotuku curse and possibly injuring or killing the students of Rokuryo High School who had unknowingly cast it. She returned only once to see if Naru and his assistant Lin had come back yet to perform the reversal of the death curse. However, once she learned that her boss had yet to reappear, she ran off once again. And, like Naru, she hadn't been seen since.

Houshou Takigawa, known simply as "Monk" among the small group of spiritualists, had attempted to find her and comfort the girl he'd come to think of as a little sister. However, it soon appeared to him that she'd fled the property completely.

'I guess she'd decided not to participate in the case anymore. Maybe it was just too much for her, she's such a compassionate person. It's not like her to abandon a case, though. In fact, she was the one that put up such an argument over leaving before the job was done. Not to mention that, she left all her stuff behind…Man, I hope she doesn't do anything reckless. I should keep looking for her.'

And with that lengthy consideration, Monk proceeded to go looking for Mai Taniyama once more.

Meanwhile, the missing assistant was planning to do exactly what Monk feared she would. It wasn't the most reckless thing she _could _do, after all, she'd debated the idea of trying to exorcise the fox fires of the kotuku using what little power and warding magic she possessed. That being said, the solution she'd finally come up with was by no means safe. To be blunt, it was stupid and illogical and borderline suicidal. If it worked, there was very little chance she would survive, if at all, without serious injury.

'So much for self-preservation instincts. There, that's the last one. I hope it's enough. I may not be able to stop Naru from reversing the curse, but at least I might be able to lessen its effects on the students. I still think that Matsuyama guy shouldn't be getting off scot-free, but at least I can stop the fox fires from injuring all of the students. Well, I hope I can. Unlike those students, I know _exactly _what _I'm_ doing.'

* * *

Eventually, Monk had been forced to end the search for Mai on school grounds. Somewhere along the line, he'd been joined by the other spiritualists and friends of the brunette who were working with SPR on the case.

There was Masako Hara, a famous medium with her own TV show. Despite her small rivalry with Mai over Naru, she'd put aside any jealously or bitterness in order to find her. She had a bad feeling something unspeakably horrible was about to befall the short-tempered, brown-eyed assistant. It wasn't something she could sense so much, like her ability to feel spirits, but just a general sense of foreboding.

Another co-worker, Ayako Matsuzaki, felt much the same way. Sure, Mai could be kind of annoying sometimes, always being so sarcastic and repeatedly bringing up the self-claimed shrine maiden's many failures in past cases, but she had a good heart. She didn't deserve to feel any pain or suffering. And it was coming for her, Ayako knew that much. The trees were whispering, the earth itself warning her of the impending tragedy. This time, Ayako couldn't possibly be wrong.

John Brown, the young Catholic priest, felt it, too. He wasn't connected to the earth or to the spirits like Miss Hara or Miss Matsuzaki, but he knew. He wondered if he should have tried harder to exorcise the spirits of this school, maybe if he'd worked harder to destroy them, they wouldn't have been devoured and made the other fox fires so much stronger. Or maybe, he could have tried to stop Mai before it was too late to find her.

Reluctantly, the team of four was forced to start heading back to base, hoping that wither Mai would come back or she'd simply be waiting for them at the office after they wrapped up the case. If they had been worried about the well-being of the high school students who'd ignorantly cast the curse, they were three times as worried about the absent assistant.

* * *

Osamu Yasuhara was scared. He was trying to remain nonplussed about the fact that he and the rest of the students at his school were about to be on the receiving end of reversed death curse, but after the damage he witnessed while working with Shibuya Psychic Research on the case he was admittedly, scared out of his wits. And that was before he got a phone call from the gang asking if he'd seen Mai or if she'd tried to contact him as she'd apparently gone missing.

He thought back to the last time he'd seen her; had she seen through his act? Did she know he was scared? And more importantly, why was she missing? According to the others, she'd just run off without warning. That didn't bode well.

He just hoped she was still alright.

* * *

When the group of spiritualist returned to base, they certainly weren't prepared to find Naru and Lin about to begin the ceremony for reversing the kotuku. Both turned to stare at the intruders while the spiritualists tried to grasp the situation they now found themselves in.

"Naru," Masako was the first to recover and break the icy silence, "Do you know where Mai is?" For once, the narcissist looked slightly surprised, even if the only giveaway was the fact that his eyes barely noticeably widened. It satisfied the kimono-wearing medium. "I see, so you do not."

Silence.

"It's unimportant at the moment." Now, even Lin looked stunned by such a harsh statement.

"Now hold on just a minute, you cold-hearted bastard!" Monk had to be forcibly restrained by Ayako and John. But both of them, even the priest, gave off an aura that they too wanted nothing more in the world to sock their boss a good one right then. Turns out, they needn't bother.

_Slap!_

Silence. Ever so cautiously, Naru lifted a hand to his still stinging cheek. The offending hand belonged to none other than Masako Hara. Her face was slightly flushed and overall she appeared a bit flustered, like she herself couldn't believe what she'd done, but her eyes were brimming with anger.

"How could you say that?! Don't you care anything at all for your assistant?!"

All along, Masako had thought Naru always treated Mai special while she had to bribe him just to go out with her on simple dinner dates. To see him just dismiss Mai's disappearance like some trivial matter, the only girl he'd ever called by her first name, and, subsequently, the girl Masako thought he might've grown to love…it was unforgiveable. How could she have ever been jealous of Mai? Have ever thought she might have feelings for such a cold-blooded man?

"Out." He said simply, startling the medium out of her post-violence stupor. She looked like she wanted to say something more, but thought better of it and lowered her hand before silently exiting the base.

"Everyone, out." Slowly, one by one, the others followed after her until only Naru and Lin remained in the room.

"Continue." Naru's eyes were hidden in the shadows of his bangs. The Chinese man hesitated.

"If Taniyama-san is missing-" He began, even he, despite his best efforts, had grown slightly fond of the high school girl who'd been working them for the last few months.

"Do it, Lin."

So he did.

After Lin reversed the kotuku, both he and Naru left the base and sought out the other four spiritualists. Together, they entered the school's gymnasium where they discovered a few hundred hitogata that had been created specifically as substitutes for the students for whom the reversal of the curse would have impacted. After a few insults thrown at "Naru the Narcissist" for keeping them in the dark about this plan, he instructed them to search for any unbroken hitogata.

Unfortunately, and rather suspiciously, this was easier said than done. It was difficult to tell which dolls were actually broken since the only damage each one sustained was barely a hairline crack in most cases. Naru in particular looked troubled by this fact.

"They should be more damaged. Lin, are you sure the reversal worked?"

"Of course." His solemn assistant replied.

"And the hitogata?"

"They definitely absorbed the curse. Otherwise, they wouldn't be damaged at all."

"It doesn't make sense. I knew the effects on each individual would be lessened, but even with such a large number it's impossible that they would escape with little injury." Naru commented as he compared a broken and unbroken doll.

"Well, does it have to make sense? Maybe we should just be happy that it worked. And isn't it a good thing? If your plan using the dolls had failed, the students still would have been minimally injured. Personally, I think you're just being paranoid. This case was a success, we should report back to the principal." Ayako stated.

Naru didn't answer.

* * *

From there on, the day was rather mundane. The four spiritualists were overcome with relief that the school's students were safe, but now they were still in a worrisome tizzy over Mai's whereabouts. Quietly, the group agreed that she had most likely gone back to the office. Every one of them was eager to return so they could meet her and tell her about how the case was solved without any loss of life, hopefully relieving some of her stress and guilt over the incident.

The next few hours sped by quickly as they informed the principal of the latest developments and the notice that they would now be leaving since their work was done. They dismantled the base in about half the time it usually took to load all of the equipment, even Ayako and Masako were helping out with what they could. It wasn't long before they were all driving on their way back to the office.

But when they finally arrived, there was no cheerful brown-haired assistant to greet them at the door and offer to make them tea. Instead, thy unlocked the door and switched on the lights to find an empty room, with no sign that Mai had ever come back there after fleeing Rokuryo High School.

They tried calling her house again to no avail. No one answered her phone. But fi she wasn't home and she wasn't at the office, where could she be?

"She might have be visiting a friend's house?" John offered, "She was very stressed out. Maybe she needed someone to support her?"

"Yeah, maybe." Came Ayako's reply. "Hey, Lin, Naru, you wouldn't happen to know any of Mai's friends' phone numbers, would you?"

As it happened, they still had records of the phone numbers of two or three of Mai's school friends from their first case involving that Kuroda girl and the old school building. After three rings, one of the girls happened to pick up the phone.

It took all of two seconds for Ayako's face to completely drain of any color before she ended the call. The shrine maiden sat down heavily on the cough in the middle of the office before taking a few deep breaths.

"Miss Matsuzaki?" Masako asked.

"Television. Newscast. _Now._"

Quickly bringing the local news broadcast onscreen, the others realized why Ayako was so shaken. Mai's friend must have wondered why they even bothered calling her asking about Mai, but they'd never thought to check the news. John turned up the volume as one of Mai's school photos came onscreen.

"-year old Mai Taniyama was found collapsed inside of a small shrine just down the street from the highly publicized Rokuryo High School early this morning. Whether or not this new attack is connected to the incidents that have occurred at the school has not yet been confirmed. Officials are not releasing any details about the case but Taniyama is reported to have sustained several serious injuries and is now listed in critical condition at a nearby hospital. The teenager was discovered earlier this morning by…"

For once, Naru's old wish was finally granted. The Shibuya Psychic Research office was completely, and utterly, silent.

* * *

Two weeks later, Mai Taniyama finally woke from a short-term coma following extensive surgery. The first thing she heard was a doctor telling her she was lucky to be alive. She listened carefully, and answered any and all of the doctor's questions.

A few hours later, when it was confirmed her condition had stabilized and she had been moved out of the ICU, she received her first priority visitor: a police officer who interrogated her about the events of the previous night and early morning leading up to her collapsing at the shrine.

After answering the officer's questions, she was once again consulted by her doctor and nurse about her medical situation. As soon as the doctor left, Mai Taniyama asked if she had any visitors and if she would be allowed to see them. Sadly, the nurse informed her that she had had none thus far but if she would like to contact one, she may. Mai Taniyama politely declined.

Over the next few days, the doctors called her quick recovery nothing short of miraculous. She never really paid attention much to the extent of her injuries, but apparently the surgeries were successful and had left minimal scarring. The injuries she had sustained, although serious, were able to be healed and would not affect her daily life. The scars weren't in any noticeable locations and would surely fade over time.

So all in all, Mai Taniyama decided she didn't need to know exactly how hurt she'd been. She was alive and her body suffered no permanent damage. It was greater than she could have hoped for. She truly was a very lucky girl.

* * *

Almost a week later, she was discharged from the hospital. The brunette immediately hailed a taxi and asked to be driven to the SPR office. Upon her arrival she hurriedly rushed into the office.

Immediately, her face met a large chest as she was squashed in one of Monk's bone-crushing hugs. After that she was shuffled among each of the four spiritualists, plus Yasu, who had apparently been offered a job at SPR in the few weeks she'd been absent. Everyone apologized for not visiting her but she understood.

They hadn't visited because they didn't know what to say.

"Mai, what did you do? What happened?" Masako asked. After all, someone had to ask. Eventually.

The brunette looked down at the floor, fisting her hands in her lap where she sat on the couch between Monk and Yasu, with Ayako, John, and Masako facing opposite them. She was barely aware of Lin and Naru's entrance into the room from their offices. Her boss casually leaned against a wall without anyone (except the all-knowing author!) realizing his presence.

"W-well…I said I was going to stop Naru from reversing the curse and hurting the students..."

"Yeah. And then you just ran off. Where did you go?! What happened?!" Cue Monk's overprotective brotherly nature, "How did you end up in the hospital?!"

"Ah…um…the news report should have said, I think. That I was found at the shrine near the school….I went there. Well, I didn't go there first. I found a student from the school and borrowed a blank paper for Orikiri-sama, then I went and found a copier store…"

"You didn't!" Monk shouted, suddenly realizing exactly how Mai was injured….and why the hitogata were mysteriously lacking in physical damage. The brown-eyed assistant's eyes glittered with unshed tears.

"I did…I thought that if I couldn't stop Naru and Line, that maybe I could- I could stop the fox fires from going after the students! So I filled out a bunch of the talismans and buried them at the shrine…" She answered truthfully. Mai tried to draw out the explanation, she was reluctant to admit what she did. She knew it had been a foolish and naïve action on her part, not to mention extremely dangerous.

"Mai, how many talismans did you make?" Naru asked calmly, startling those in the room. Unlike the others, who were rapidly growing angrier by the minute, his voice was just as even and condescending as usual.

Mai Taniyama…broke.

"I-I'm sorry! I know it was dangerous, but I couldn't just let the students get hurt! They didn't do anything wrong, they thought it was just a stupid game! I know I worried you all immensely, you and everyone else! And I did it without telling anyone! You wouldn't have known…known why...I could have died…oh god, if I'd died…" She broke down into tears after that, burying her face into Monk's chest as her friends tried to comfort her.

At first they'd begun planning to lecture her for hours about her actions as punishment. Now they saw that the fear and guilt that consumed her over the incident was punishment enough.

But they would still lecture her later, they just wouldn't be so angry.

"I didn't ask for an apology, Mai. Now answer my question." Everyone turned to stare (read: glare) at Naru. Slowly, Mai wiped her eyes and tried to get her voice back under control.

"W-what question?" Naru closed his eyes briefly, calming himself and trying not to snap at his assistant's stupidity.

"How. Many. Talismans?" He gritted out, moving away from where he was leaning against the wall. His facial expression was lost in shadow.

"About…about….a hundred…." She choked out. The others gasped and once again comforted her as it appeared she was about to break down again after that confession.

"I see." The teenage boy turned to re-enter his office, but paused at the door.

"And Mai," Said girl looked up at her boss one more time, trying to cease her sniffling and regulate her breathing. She knew it, he was going to reprimand her about how she was such an idiot and probably fire her as his assistant.

"Tea."

Then, for the first time since the case involving Rokuryo High School ended, the brown-eyed girl smiled a truly dazzling smile. Like a rainbow, or the sun shining, after a terrible storm. And any lingering anger the gang held against Mai, or against their boss, instantly melted in its unending warmth.

Mai Taniyama.

Mai Taniyama.

_Mai Taniyama._

"Right away, boss!"

* * *

Yet… a Forbidden Pastime _almost _became a Kotuku Killing.

_Almost._

But not quite.


End file.
